garden snail

Helix aspersa

length

weight

top speed (crawling)

feels like

1.3in

12000mg

0mph

1.7mph

Garden Snails move by gliding along on their muscular foot, which is lubricated with mucus and covered with epithelial cilia. This motion is powered by succeeding waves of muscular contractions that move down the ventral of the foot. This muscular action is clearly visible when a snail is crawling on the glass of a window or aquarium. Snails move at a proverbially low speed (1 mm/s is a typical speed for an adult). They produce mucus to aid locomotion by reducing friction, and the mucus also helps reduce the snail’s risk of mechanical injury from sharp objects. This means that they can crawl along sharp objects like a straight razor and survive without injury.

Imagine what it's like for a tiny insect to jump and fly as quickly as they do. They might cover 40 body lengths in a second. To a six-foot person that's 164 mph. This site tries to understand how it feels to move like a fly, a squirrel, a cat, a rhinocerous, or a falcon.